Sustainability extends far beyond stressing its “green”

Stephen Boyle, strategic programme manager for construction at Zero Waste Scotland

Advocating sustainability, he says, extends far beyond simply stressing its “green” credentials – crucial as they are. “One of the principal ways in which we encourage resource efficiency and support and engage with companies and organisations in the construction sector is helping them to identify ways in which they can save money and encourage innovation to meet new opportunities which will secure their businesses, create future employment and open up new markets,” he says.

Nearly 50% of the 4 million tonnes of waste going to landfill is construction waste, the European Union having set a target of 70% recycling of construction and demolition waste by 2020 plus the Scottish Government’s Sustainability Purpose proposing a reduction of emissions by 80% by 2050, the task, he adds, is an urgent one.

The Resource Efficient Scotland advice service is helping those involved to realise savings as well as reduce environmental impact. “And the way to do this is by making a sound business case for everything that we do,” says Stephen.

Circular construction principles and offsite construction have become familiar terms in the industry and the Resource Efficient House built in 2013 at BRE Innovation Park in Lanarkshire and managed by Zero Waste Scotland was a pioneering example of how sustainable and affordable family homes can be built across the country.

Resource Efficient House

Developed under the Resource Efficient Scotland programme in partnership with Tigh Grian Limited, it was constructed with structural insulated panels (SIPS) and incorporated an imaginative range of green technologies designed to ensure minimal construction waste and ensure the effective reuse of recycling of construction materials. Among the innovations were heating using a highly-efficient stove fuelled by sustainably-sourced wood pellets and thermal insulation quilts made from recycled glass and plastic bottles.

The house was built offsite, transported to the BRE Innovation Park in four pods and, impressively, installed in a single day. While a typical three-bedroom house of this type produces in the region of 13 tonnes of construction waste, this produced less than five tonnes, with less than one going to landfill, says Stephen. That represents a reduction of some eight tonnes, which he points out, is very significant in a development of 100 houses “With offsite construction, you are thinking about all the best techniques you can bring to a project right from the design stage – reducing the amount of materials used and thus reducing initial costs – to minimising the amount of waste and therefore the costs involved in disposal,” he says.

Resource Efficient Scotland’s Designing out construction Construction Waste guide reports that the construction sector is Scotland’s biggest contributor to landfill and believes millions of tonnes can be designed out from the inception, taking a circular economy approach that helps reduce consumption of virgin materials at the outset, optimising resource-efficient maintenance and repair and maximising the re-use of materials at the end of the life of the building.

Inside Resource Efficient House.

“It’s important to look at the materials across the whole lifespan of a building,” Stephen adds. “That’s one of the important shifts we want to achieve within the industry – getting away from the linear economy where you build up and then throw away.

“We want to encourage building a house or factory unit taking into consideration its whole life costing, making sure that material is reduced; that we develop a building that uses the least amount of energy over its lifespan while operating most effectively. 

Off-site construction, he adds, means that projects are not as subject to delays caused by inclement weather – a hazard at any time of the year in Scotland while alternative materials also come into play, which can range from Scottish-grown European larch, clay floor panels and even hemp which can be used in pre-fabricated panels and bricks and has insulation qualities that are superior to their equivalent traditional building materials.

Resource Efficient Scotland also includes site waste management training for SMEs so that the staff can put processes in place themselves that will further reduce the amount of materials used, waste generated and cutting overall cost.

Encouragingly, the drive toward sustainable building practice has been adopted by some of the Scottish major construction companies, adds Stephen. The Stewart Milne Group, for example, has conducted in-depth research focusing on the practicability of building to meet the Code for Sustainable Homes and ensuring that homeowners at handover stage are aware of how to use their homes to make a positive impact on reducing energy consumption, while at the design stage, Architecture and Design Scotland is enthusiastically promoting sustainability as a key component of its work.

Meanwhile, with the likelihood that the Brexit effect will cost the construction industry more in coming years, the need to underpin the sustainability agenda with measurable savings is even more critical. Whether it’s social or private housing, says Stephen, building is a long-term investment. “So let’s think about how we design houses that use less material in construction and offset additional cost through good design and best practice,” he says.

Resource Efficient House.

Resource Efficient Scotland, launched in 2013, is a programme delivered by Zero Waste Scotland, our funding comes from the Scottish Government and the European Regional Development Fund. The programme offers free advice and technical support as well as the sharing of best practices and new technologies.

Embedding resource efficiency within Scottish organisations makes a significant contribution to the achievement of the Scottish Government’s strategic economic objectives, climate change, energy efficiency and zero waste targets.

Each year over 34,000 individuals from a range of organisations access the programme for support from the Resource Efficient Scotland Advice and Support Service.

Find out more by visiting www.resourceefficientscotland.com